Jessica Pratt Sparkles In Rossini

Opera buffs! If you’re planning to escape Sydney’s unseasonably cold weather and are  heading north for the summer, here is an opportunity to hear one of Sydney’s most successful singers and a lauded exponent of Rossini and the bel canto repertoire.

Sydney audiences are yet to hear the exceptional talent of soprano Jessica Pratt – though Melburnians were fortunate to hear her in Victorian Opera’s I puritani earlier this month in a performance described as “breathtaking brilliance” (Sydney Morning Herald, July 3, 2015).

Now, the Como based Jessica Pratt will make her debut at the Arena di Verona, considered the world’s most prestigious open air opera stage. For three performance in August (1, 7 and 20), she will sing the role of Rosina in Hugo de Ana’s staging of Gioacchino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti.

Later in August (15 and 18), Miss Pratt will return to the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro as the soprano soloist in performances of Rossini’s Messa di Gloria, conducted by Roberto Abbado, alongside star tenor Juan Diego Florez. She will also perform in the solo cantata La morte di Didone. In the northern autumn of 2015 she will debut the title role of Rossini’s Semiramide in concert performances in Marseille and Washington, D.C.

Considered one of the world’s foremost Rossini sopranos, Jessica Pratt has amassed an impressive repertoire of Rossini’s prime donne since her European operatic debut in 2007 as Lucia di Lammermoor, including such diverse roles as Lisinga in Demetrio e Polibio, the title role of Armida, and Amenaide in Tancredi. Her performances in the Rossini Opera Festival productions of Ciro in Babilonia, Adelaide di Borgogna, and Aureliano in Palmira can be seen on DVD / Blu-Ray releases by ArtHaus and Opus Arte.

Jessica Pratt has performed at the world’s most prestigious opera theatres and festivals, including the Vienna State Opera, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Zurich Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Among the highlights of her busy 2014/2015 season were her debut as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Teatro Regio of Turin, Elvira in I puritani in Florence and Melbourne, and in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Rome Opera House and the Festival Granda in Lima. In 2014 Jessica Pratt debuted the role of Violetta in La traviata with Melbourne’s Victorian Opera, launching a bel canto collaboration with the company extending over several years.

Here are the August performance details:

G. Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816)
When: 1, 7, 20 August 2015, 20:45
Where: Arena di Verona
Conductor: Giacomo Sagripanti/Director: Hugo de Ana with Jessica Pratt (Rosina), Antonino Siragusa/Juan José de Léon (Count Almaviva), Bruno De Simone (Bartolo), Mario Cassi (Figaro), Roberto Tagliavini (Basilio)
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G. Rossini’s Messa di gloria (1820) and La morte di Didone (1811)
When: 15 and 18 August 2015, 16:30
Where: Rossini Opera Festival, Adriatic Arena, Pesaro
Conductor: Roberto Abbado with Jessica Pratt (soprano, Didone), Viktoria Yarovaya (mezzo-soprano), Juan Diego Flórez (tenor), Mirco Palazzi
(bass)
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